Liminality Easter Eggs
The .hack//Liminality Easter Eggs are a collection of information released unofficially by Bandai USA that are found in the Liminality DVDs. Because of this, most info found in these easter eggs were never considered part of the official storyline and, therefore, have subsequently become non-canon. These are all transcribed from the disks. The validity statements explain the validity of the easter eggs compared to the official canon of the series. Liminality Vol. 1 Validity: True :In Vol. 1 of .hack//LIMINALITY, you can access the .hack Timeline by going to the "Data" section and then moving the selector down to "Main", you then press right on the d-pad of your remote and the cursor should vanish. Once it does this, press left on the d-pad twice and you will be able to view the Timeline. Liminality Vol. 2 In Vol. 2 of Liminality, you once again go to the "Data" menu and then move the cursor down to "Character Art Gallery". Press right on the d-pad and the cursor will disappear. Then press the select button on your remote and you will be taken to screens detailing various "mysteries" about the series: Mystery//01 Mia and Grunty Validity: True :When the player trades with Noble and Iron Grunties, the number of trades with Mia increases in the "Ryu Books". Mystery//02 Sieg Validity: True :The character, Sieg, played by Tomonari Kasumi appears in the game. He is one of the two players talking about Mia in front of the Chaos Gate in Mac Anu. Though the incident in the game and OVA follow the same timeline, it seems as though Orca fell into a coma before Tomonari did. Mystery//03 Six Players in Comas Validity: True :In .hack//Liminality in the Case of Mai Minase, Tokuoka says that there are six players who fell into a coma like Tomonari. From the accounts of the game: Tomonari Kasumi, Orca, Alph, and an individual related to BlackRose can be confirmed. At this time, it cannot be confirmed whether "Tsukasa" from .hack//SIGN and others from the real world are included in the other two counts.The other two victims are Sora and Carl. Mystery//04 Chat Validity: Half TrueThe novels refer to three chat modes available to ordinary players: "Talk Mode", audible to everyone; "Party Mode", audible only to party members; and "Whisper Mode", audible only to one selected person. Administrators also have "System Announcement Mode", which will be heard by all players. In addition, "The World Makeup Language System" has never been mentioned outside of the Easter Eggs. :There are two ways players in "The World" communicate with each other. The first one is "Open Chat," which allows multiple players to congregate and communicate with everyone. The other is "Personal Chat" where conversation is one-on-one. By using "The World Makeup Language System (WMLS)" developed by CC Corporation, it is said that there is no difficulty in selecting either form of chat function. Mystery//05 The World Version Updates Validity: True :"The World" has been upgraded numerous times, and with each version upgrade, several functions have been added or limited. The fact that Player Killing (PK) that was possible in .hack//SIGN has now been disallowed in the game shows that there has been a major upgrade in the system. :The official version upgrades announced from CC Corporation are the following: :2006 "Fragment" ver. α-01 :2007 "Fragment" ver. β-02 :2007(end) "The World" ver. 1.00 :2008 "The World" ver. 1.40 :2009 "The World" ver. 1.81 (.hack//SIGN?)These first five versions are never verified by other sources. :2010 "The World" ver. 2.01 (game & OVA?) Mystery//06 Red Chaos Gate Validity: Half True :A red Chaos Gate appeared in front of BT and Crim at "Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground" in .hack//SIGN. The field of "Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground" was first constructed as a Root Town by CC Corporation, but was discarded for some reason. It is said that "Helba" created an original Chaos Gate using that discarded field. Because of this rumor, the red Chaos Gate is known as the "Helba Gate," but the field that is connected from the "Helba Gate" was not created by Helba. Of course, these are only rumors...If this could be proven true that would insinuate a connection between Harald and Helba, since it is Harald that hints at the Twilight Eye. Mystery//07 Engraving on the Sword Validity: Half True, Unknown :In the "Log In" screen of "The World," there is a sword with an engraving of "Key of the Twilight." Apparently, the incident that took place in .hack//SIGN was also a major problem for the CC Corporation.What this simply refers to is a hint at Albireo and his involvement in the Twilight Incident, the gauging of the reaction though, is unknown. A massive personnel was also conducted within the company. Since then, CC Corporation and the succeeding System Administrator have decided to display these words to guage the reactions of users regarding this mysterious item, "Key of the Twilight." Mystery//08 Data Drain Validity: True :In the game, Skeith performs Data Drain on Orca, and Yasuhiko, Orca's real world counterpart falls into a coma. However, in the battle with Skeith at the end of ".hack//INFECTION," the party members do not fall into comas when Skeith performs Data Drain. The power of the Bracelet seems to lessen the force of Skeith's attack... but if Skeith had performed "PROTECT BREAK" on the party, the outcome would have been different. Mystery//09 Piros Validity: True :Based on the way Piros looks and from his actions, he is obviously not a regular player. In reality he is a 31 year old married graphic designer who works for the CC Corporation and plays "The World" both during and after work. He edited his character in secret. Liminality Vol. 4 For Vol. 4, once again go to the "Data" section of the DVD menus, then highlight ".hack Promo Trailers" and press right on the d-pad; the ALTIMIT logo should appear. Select the icon and you are able to access a vast amount of info dealing with various terms from the series. Phase 1 Skeith: The Terror of Death Validity: False :This program was designed to collect data on human emotions and reactions to death. The information collected by all Phases was copied to the ultimate AI.The Eight Phases were being's created by Morganna to carry out her will. This is proven in the canon Analysis which never came to America. Phase 2 Innis: The Mirage of Deceit Validity: False :This program was designed to collect data on human reactions to deceit. Phase 3 Magus: The Propagation Validity: False :This program was designed to collect data on the human need to procreate and preserve the species. Phase 4 Fidchell: The Prophet Validity: Half True, Half False :This program was designed to collect data on the human concept of unavoidable fate. After the battle with this fourth phase, Morganna attempted to spread beyond the game servers to alleviate her increasing size which was causing heightened instability.Though Fidchell is not a program, it is verified that Morganna did attempt to spread beyond the server's at this time. Phase 5 Gorre: The Schemer Validity: False :This program was designed to collect data on human cruelty. Phase 6 Macha: The Temptress Validity: False :This program was designed to collect data on human affection (but only that occurs during unrequited love). Phase 7 Tarvos: The Avenger Validity: False :The program was designed to collect data on human jealousy, revenge and other dark emotions. Phase 8 Corbenik: The Rebirth Validity: False :First Form: Attachments to Life :Second Form: Attraction of Death :Final Form: The Pure Heart Morganna Mode Gone Validity: Half True, Half False :"Morganna" is the Artificial Intelligence (AI) software developed by Harald Hoerwick that operates and administers "The World," and which supervised Fragment, the prototype for the current game system. :CC Corp. is concerned with the internal workings of the AI, which are sometimes referred to as "Harald System," because they have been unable to dissect parts of the system. Black boxes, mysterious portions of the program that function autonomously, have baffled CC Corp. developers. When they tried to delete protected folders which seemingly had no purpose, the system ceased to function, and engineers were forced to restore the data. :Harald wanted to create the Ultimate AI, but could not find a company that would sponsor his project. He eventually decided to create Morganna, a self-evolving limited AI disguised as a game system that would learn and grow, eventually giving birth to the ultimate AI. Harald wanted this final AI to think like a human and have a full range of human emotions.The validation of this statement ends here, the compatability of wavering was never attributed to Morganna in the canon. When Harald introduced "wavering" to Morganna, she reacted unpredictably. She began to resent being nothing more than a vessel for giving birth to the ultimate AI. Instead of feeling protective towards her daughter, she gradually became jealous and self-centered, to the point of trying to prevent the ultimate AI's birth. She deleted code governing her maternal instinct, further destabilizing her program and causing system errors, data corruption, infection, and coma victims due to Data Drain. The Eight Phases confronted by Kite are facets of Morganna's personality which were designed to work together and complete the ultimate AI. Harald's Room Validity: True :Harald wanted to personally witness the birth of the ultimate AI, so he planted himself within Morganna in the form of the pseudo-personality, "AI Harald." The AI is programmed with Harald's values and mimics his personality. It also has access to Harald's notes and images. AI Harald had a learning program, but this started to degrade as Morganna's will strengthened. Harald's Notes Validity: True :These are various notes that Harald made as he was programming. They were once stored in AI Harald, but after it degraded, the remnants of these notes were scattered throughout "The World". Data Infection Validity: True :Morganna's malfunction affected field objects which could be seen graphically when portions of the overlaying graphics disappeared and raw program data showed through. Data Bug Validity: Unknown :To protect herself from Aura and the Bracelet, Morganna created Data Bugs by merging corrupted data with existing monster data. Although these were believed to be symptoms of her malfunctioning, they were actually methods of self-defense. She used 26 virus core data fragments to create various Data Bugs. Even a party of three high level players with the best equipment and the most powerful skills can not defeat a Data Bug. The only way to defeat a Data Bug is to use the Bracelet to Data Drain it. This will cause it to revert back to a normal monster because Data Draining extracts the virus core that Morganna added and recompiles the monster's data. Carrier Monster Validity: Unknown :A carrier monster is a creature that has the potential to mutate into a Data Bug. As the data corruption of "The World" progressed, the mutation rate of carrier monsters into Data Bugs increased. Carrier monsters leave Virus Cores after being Data Drained, but their appearance and parameters are otherwise indistinguishable from regular monsters. :There are 26 different types of Virus Cores. Depending on which Virus Core was added to the monster data and how much time has elapsed, the carrier monster turns into a Data Bug. There are two different types of carrier monsters: monsters that failed to become Data Bugs (Morganna's failed experiments), and monsters that are currently undergoing rewriting of data. Vaccine Program Validity: True :The vaccine that Helba created was actually a virus that used Morganna's self-evolutionary system against herself. Morganna's defenses either avoided data perceived to be dangerous, or absorbed the virus and developed antibodies if the avoidance method failed. Helba knew she could not destroy Morganna, so her virus was a self-replicating data worm that increased the data volume in areas where Morganna might pass. Morganna would keep her distance from the detected virus, and thus be herded to where Helba wanted her to go. However, Morganna compressed her own data temporarily and Data Drained Helba's virus to create her own vaccine, which led to the Data Draining of the CC Corp. employees under Lios. Wavering Validity: False :Harald created an algorithm called "wavering" that permitted ambiguity and human-like decision-making. Data such as the current weather affected Morganna's thought processes.No mention of wavering refering to Moraganna is in the canon. Book of Twilight Validity: True :When Morganna malfunctioned, she restricted Aura's power to rewrite data within "The World." Aura tried to give this power as an installation book to Orca in order to stop the malfunctioning of Morganna and trigger her own birth. However, Orca was Data Drained, and the book was given to Kite instead. It turned into the Bracelet after it was installed. Aura chose the form of the installation book, since installation books exist as a convenient item for editing character data. Aura chose to entrust the future of both herself and "The World" to Orca, based on information that was copied from Morganna. After Orca was lost, she chose Kite since Orca sacrificed himself to save him. Bracelet Validity: True :The Bracelet is the manifestation of the post-installed Book of Twilight. It cannot be seen unless its power is activated. Data Drain and Gate Hacking become available when it is equipped. The Bracelet is viewed as an illegal item by both the System Administration and other players such as Balmung. Data Drain Validity: Unknown :Data Drain is one power of the Bracelet. The Eight Phases of Morganna also possess this skill. Data Drain weakens monsters, drains monster data, converts them into items, and increases the user's Infection Rate. Repeated use increases the chance of losing control of Data Drain itself, leading to status abnormalities and other effects. This skill does not exist in the specs of "The World," so it is seen by the system as an anomaly. :The power of Data Drain was originally intended as a means for Aura to absorb Morganna. As the ultimate AI, Aura would drain (delete) portions of Morganna that were unneeded and improve upon them. However, when Morganna limited Aura's abilities, Aura could not use the power herself. Instead, she changed that power into the Book of Twilight and gave it to Kite. Once in his possession, it became the Bracelet. Morganna is able to use this power because she copied part of Aura into her system. Data Drain is the only way to inflict damage on Morganna. :At first, there were only six victims of Data Drain, including Orca, Kazu (BlackRose's brother), and Sieg (Tomonari Kasumi). As time progresses, the damage from Morganna's malfunction spread, and it was believed that there were at least eight more, not counting Lios' employees from CC Corporation that lost consciousness during the final operation. Gate Hacking Validity: Unknown :Morganna's malfunctioning caused corruption in many parts of the system leading to some areas being cut off. These areas became known as Protected Areas. Gate Hacking repairs the corrupted warp field system by rewriting the data using Virus Cores recovered from monsters. After the data is rewritten, access is restored. Areas that are restricted by System Administrators are also known as Protected Areas. :Some areas require a large number of Virus Cores. This is because the Eight Phases have passed through them multiple times, causing considerable data corruption. Aura knew of the relationship between Protected Areas and the Eight Phases that resided within them, which is why she included a Gate Hacking function with the bracelet. Cubia Validity: False :Morganna could anticipate human behavior and plan ahead. One example of this was Cubia, a monster designed to balance the game against hackers and edited character data. :Cubia was meant to seek out malicious players with illegal abilities or items like the Bracelet and Data Drain them, deleting their PC files. Until Kite received the "Book of Twilight" and the Bracelet, no players fitting this description had appeared, so Cubia had not been seen. Once the Bracelet became active, Cubia sought Kite whenever he came in contact with Aura, because it believed Kite was a threat to the system, to which Aura belonged. Cubia did not attempt to attack Aura or the malfunctioning Morganna because it saw both Morganna and Aura as parts of the game world. :Cubia disappeared when Kite destroyed the Bracelet because the danger to the system was removed and its job was done. Cubia remains in the system, however, and should something new appear that threatens game balance it will launch again. Cubia copied Kite's character data every time it was launched and was able to keep pace with Kite's increasing powers. Epitaph of Twilight Validity: True :"Epitaph of Twilight" is an unfinished epic poem by Emma Wielant. It is a story about Light and Darkness allying together to fight the Cursed Wave which will lead the world to destruction, and the tale of one human and two half sprites in search of the Twilight Dragon that was predestined to save the world from the Wave. Though published on Emma's private site, the actual work was only available on the internet for a short time. By the time researchers and occultists noticed it, she had died and the original text had been lost. :After the game "The World" became tremendously popular, rumor spread that the design for the prototype of the game, Fragment, was based on this epic poem. Many fans of the game tried to collect the scattered texts to reconstruct the work, but the full story has not yet been found. :Because it was an online publication, many believe the original "Epitaph of Twilight" was coded in HTML. However, viewers were unable to copy, save, or print the text. After the death of Emma, the "completed" text was auctioned at a very high price. The auctioned text was a version the seller had written or typed himself, being a fan of the "Epitaph of Twilight." The amount of time spent, the rarity, and the rumor that Fragment was based on it placed a high price on the text. This text was then leaked underground, and although it became easier to find, many added their own versions and revisions to the unfinished story, making it more difficult to determine the original text. Cursed Wave Validity: True :In the "Epitaph of Twilight," the one who will destroy the world is depicted as the Cursed Wave, or the Abominable Wave. It remains unclear whether the Wave in the original "Epitaph of Twilight" is a monster, a being, or a series of events that would lead to the destruction of the world. Since there is actual fighting in the story, the predominant opinion is that it is an actual being. However, because the "Epitaph of Twilight" is also a story depicting the conflict within an individual, some view the Wave as only a metaphor. It is said that the only one who can oppose the Cursed Wave is the Twilight Dragon and those who are in its grace. :Many different phenomena aside from the Cursed Wave are called "Waves" or "Ripples." In the game, a ripple-like shockwave is emitted by the Eight Phases of Morganna, during the birth of Cubia, and also when normal monsters mutate into Data Bugs. Based on these events, Wiseman began to refer to the Eight Phases as the Cursed Wave. Root Towns Validity: True :"The World" is comprised of five servers: Δ, Θ, Λ, Σ and Ω. Each server has its own unique Root Town. Players can select which server (Root Town) to visit depending on their goals and levels, and proceed on to the field and dungeons by selecting the Keywords at the town's Chaos Gate. α, β and γ servers also existed during Fragment but they were not carried over to "The World". :The Ω Server that appears in the game is the hacker Helba's server. W Server was originally set up by the CC Corporation, but due to data corruption caused by Morganna, their server stopped functioning and was replaced by Helba's. :Δ Server Root Town: Aqua Capital Mac Anu (Son of a Goddess) :Θ Server Root Town: Highland City Dun Loireag (Weave Guardian) :Λ Server Root Town: Cultural City Carmina Gadelica (Song of Gael) :Σ Server Root Town: Aerial City Fort Ouph (Fort of Elves) :Ω Server Net Slum: Relic City Lia Fail (Stone of Destiny) Twilight Dragon Validity: Partly True, Mostly False :The Twilight Dragon is a being that opposes the Cursed Wave. In the "Epitaph of Twilight," Saya (who was chosen by the King of Light Apeiron), Queen of Darkness Helba, Fili the White, and Bith the Black, go in search of this Twilight Dragon. It is said to live in the Wavering Peninsula at the edge of the End of the World, beyond the Dragon Bone Mountains, and only Tartarga knows the way to get there.The location is confirmed in Analysis and .hack//Epitaph of Twilight; the rest is incorrect. The Twilight Dragon is born from the power of faith, and thus its existence depends on the people's belief of its existence. It understands the human language, but does not speak it. Instead, it communicates by speaking directly to a person's heart, not as a language, but as a sensation, so it is much quicker to comprehend than by speaking through words. Chaos Gate Validity: True :A Chaos Gate is a gate erected in each Root Town that players use to go to fields and dungeons by inputting a sequence of Keywords. Due to the effects of the Cursed Wave in "The World," wild animals mutate into monsters and attack humans. Humans use the power of the Wave to create barriers around towns to protect themselves. A Chaos Gate opens a hole in the barrier so players can travel to other towns and fields. Only one Chaos Gate exists in each town, because if monsters managed to break into a town with multiple Gates, it would be more difficult to defend the town. Magic Portal Validity: Unknown :In "The World," patterns have power. Humans can draw patterns on the ground to create magic portals which trap monsters. However, these portals are temporary and unstable, so if another human comes near one, the portal is destroyed and the trapped monsters are released. Fragment Validity: True :Fragment was created two and a half years before the release of "The World." It was restricted to a small number of players in order to test the operation of "The World." Fragment was to be tested for six months, and then be replaced by "The World," but the trial was cut short after three months. Fragment users received an e-mail from CC Corp. which stated, "We were able to collect valuable data before the six month testing period was over, and are now concluding the project. To show our appreciation to the users of Fragment, we would like to provide a free upgrade to "The World," which will be on sale three months from now, and a free one year subscription. Thank you for your support." The official reason for the vacant three months in between Fragment to "The World," was that actions of PKers (Player Killers) became too disruptive. The real reason was due to system malfunctions (signs of Morganna's malfunction). Net Slum Validity: True :Net Slum is a place where hackers and cheaters congregate, as well as wandering AIs who were prior residents of "The World". Because System Administrators are unable to monitor it, the AIs refer to the Net Slum as "Paradise." It was created when Helba discovered a folder that collected all the trash data from within the CC Corp. server. She was amused by the data and pasted it together to create a Root Town. Because the source data is jumbled, the graphics are chaotic. CC Corp. knows of Net Slum's existence, but due to Helba's hacking skills, has not been able to figure out its specific location. :There are no specific requirements to become a resident of Net Slum. Those whom Helba has allowed or those who have found out about the location from other residents of Net Slum are the only ones who can enter. Wiseman knew about it and provided the information to Kite. Trash Data Validity: True :Trash data are incomplete NPCs that seem to appear out of thin air. These NPCs have caused nothing but headaches for the System Administrators at CC Corp. since the development phase of the prototype, Fragment. CC Corp. has not been able to explain the purpose of these NPCs. While the System Administrators refer to these wandering NPCs as "Incomplete Data," they are in fact, failed experimental AIs that Morganna had developed. Their quality seemed to improve as Morganna matured. :Experimental AIs began appearing soon after Morganna was launched at the startup of Fragment. The first AIs were very simple, and did not have the ability to talk, hide, or move. Because of this, most of them wound up being deleted by System Administrators. Some came close to being the ultimate AI, but these were disassembled by Morganna. Although Trash Data are failed experiments, they are functional AIs, and some of them have thoughts and goals. Wandering AIs with ambition have continued evolving themselves to the point where they act like PCs. A wandering AI without any clear purpose will instinctively try to return to Morganna. Aromatic Grass Validity: False :Aromatic Grass contained the data of Macha, the sixth phase of Morganna. Because Mia was Macha, she instinctively tried to collect the missing data, and was obsessed with Aromatic Grass. Notes category:Project .hack